A father-of-two died after being exposed to asbestos when he was part of the clean-up operation following an IRA bomb attack in 1996, an inquest heard.

Stuart Packard died last year when he was 40 from a cancer caused by asbestos he was exposed to nearly 20 years ago.

An inquest heard how he had been deployed to help in the aftermath of the bombing at Arndale Shopping complex in Manchester, where he was walking as a security guard. The blast injured more than 200 people.

Mr Packard was admitted to Basildon hospital , Essex, in June with shortness of breath and weight loss and he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Sadly the father, of Broomfield, Essex, died at a hospice on October 30 leaving behind his children, five-year-old Isla, and Kian, 10, the Mirror reports.

At the short hearing senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said: “He worked as a security guard in the Arndale Centre, and after the IRA explosion in 1996 he was exposed to asbestos because of the building work going on around him.”

Stuart Packard and his family before he lost his battled against cancer caused by exposure to asbestos (Image: MEN)

Mr Packard’s wife, Julie, has blamed terrorism for the cause of her husband’s tragic death.

She told an inquest: “We all live with the threat of terrorism now every day - and it was terrorism all those years ago that caused his tragic death.”

Essex Coroner’s Court in Chelmsford ruled Mr Packard died of an industrial disease.